Statement from David Richardson on reserve days

London, June 11, 2019: Factoring in a reserve day for every match at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup would significantly increase the length of the tournament and practically would be extremely complex to deliver (Statement David Richardson).

It would impact pitch preparation, team recovery and travel days, accommodation and venue availability, tournament staffing, volunteer and match officials availability, broadcast logistics and very importantly the spectators who in some instances have travelled hours to at the game.

There is also no guarantee that the reserve day would be free from rain either.

We have reserve days factored in for the knock-out stages, knowing that over the course of 45 group games we should play the large majority.

This is extremely unseasonable weather (Statement David Richardson).

In the last couple of days we have experienced more than twice the average monthly rainfall for June which is usually the third driest month in the UK.

In 2018 there was just 2mm of rain in June but the last 24 hours alone has seen around 100mm fall in the south-east of England.

When a match affects by weather conditions, the venue team work closely with Match Officials and Ground Staff to ensure that we have the best possible opportunity to play cricket, even if it is a reduced overs game.

We also work to keep fans in the stadium, or those travelling to the game, as up-to-date as possible with any information we have, either through public announcements or on our social media channels. —- ICC